On March 25, 2002, Vince McMahon and his cohorts at Titan Towers went through with one of the gutsiest if not popular decisions in the history of World Wrestling Entertainment. It was on that fateful episode of Raw where Mr. McMahon – along with then “co-owner” Ric Flair – orchestrated the first ever WWE Draft.
In the on-camera storyline, the purpose behind the draft was that since Mr. McMahon and The Nature Boy could not coexist as 50 percent owners, WWE CEO Linda McMahon and her “Board of Directors” decided that the best thing to do was split the WWE product into two distinct brands that would be exclusive and completely separate from each other.
Behind the scenes, there were several reports as to why the WWE roster pool was split into two factions. First, of course, was the idea that the fabrication of “healthy competition” between the two groups of talent would perhaps rekindle some semblance of the spark that had been lost in professional wrestling since the fold of World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Second, McMahon and company figured the successful development of two separate brands could mean more accrued revenues due to an increased house show schedule. For instance, the Smackdown! and Raw brands could now have live, non-televised house shows on the same night, essentially doubling the earnings at the gate for those nights.
Third, and seemingly least important to the McMahons but most important to the fans, a brand extension produced opportunities for certain wrestlers relegated to the low- or mid-cards to step up and potentially become main event superstars without those already at the top of the card getting all pissed off about losing their “heat” to younger talent. This reason right here is why I used to look at the brand split as a good idea.
As I look back on the past 16 months of WWE programming, there exist several elements to this fabricated extension that truly irks me to no end. The thing that bothers me the most is that while Raw and Smackdown! have certainly developed different methodologies as to how the storylines and superstars are presented, the two brands are nowhere near realizing the goal of creating a fresh competitive spark for the pro wrestling fan to latch onto.
In fact, the pro wrestling fan should feel downright cheated by the brand extension because a) Even the most casual fan knows that both factions are still owned in real-life by Vince McMahon – especially considering Vince likes to pop up on both shows – making it impossible to sell the idea of separation; and b) There is an indication from fans and people in the Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) that Smackdown! is the fresher program from top to bottom – maybe it’s the HHH Effect – and as a result the extension loses its luster every Monday night.
Now many people will argue that the brand extension is better than the way things were before the draft due to the increase in stable main event “spots” for guys like Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle, and I used to even think that myself. The argument from pro-brand extension camps is that at least the young guys on Smackdown! have their own playground apart from the World’s Business Casual Champion.
However, what I see on Smackdown! nowadays is the same shit that has spewed out of Vince’s wrinkled old ass for the past three or so years. What I drew from the Vengeance Pay-per-View is that Vince McMahon had such little faith in his superstars to carry the whole show that he booked himself in a main event encounter against Zach Gowen. Reports came out that Vince perceives himself to be the top heel on Smackdown! so the best way to elevate the one-legged Gowen is to have Zach pitted against good old Mr. McMahon.
Are you telling me there isn’t one wrestler on the roster that could have taken Vince’s place? To me, that does not show progression towards creating a new feeling, but rather another gutless rehashing of the WWF’s crown jewel: the Austin-McMahon storyline.
In all seriousness, how many times have we had to bare witness to an owner-worker feud since 1997? It seems that WWE creative has this unhealthy obsession with management having to get involved in big angles to drum up fan interest – whether it’s Vince or Stephanie on Smackdown! or Bischoff and Austin and even Linda this past Monday on Raw – rather than letting the WRESTLERS take precedence. Hell, even Brock and Angle had to get involved with the Vince-Gowen angle on Smackdown! in order to seemingly pump up their face pop-ability to max volume for their Triple Threat match against Big Show as if their backstage vignettes as of late weren’t enough to seal the deal.
My point is this: The last 16 months of the brand extension have not had a tremendous positive impact on WWE, mainly because the problem of stale booking leftover from the past three years has never quite been resolved. I would like to see things the way they used to be, if for nothing else than the fact that I like the idea of the WWE producing a continuous series on Monday and Thursday nights, as well as he prospects of reuniting the talent pool to produce a more potent mix of characters and storylines.
Either way, the less McMahons in the ring, the better.
What are your thoughts on the brand extension? You can send me feedback about this or anything else in this column to chris411wrestling@yahoo.com by clicking on the email link below.
That’s all for now PEACE.
